DENVER -- John Lackey was originally going to throw an inning simply to stay sharp. Wholesale Shoes China . That plan was changed to a full-fledged start, to keep in rhythm. Only, this wasnt exactly the outing he was looking for with the post-season drawing near. Lackey allowed three solo homers, including one to Charlie Blackmon, the first batter he faced, as the Boston Red Sox fell to the Colorado Rockies 8-3 on Tuesday night. "Not our best night from the mound," manager John Farrell said. "I thought John made a couple of mistakes that he had to pay for, particularly in a ball park where you put the ball in the air and its going to carry." Even more, Lackey (10-13) struggled on the road again, allowing four runs and six hits in six innings. The right-hander is 1-5 away from Fenway Park since the All-Star break. Lackey also surrendered solo homers to Troy Tulowitzki and Corey Dickerson. Not that hes too concerned with this performance. "Im good to go," Lackey said. "Feel good." Tyler Chatwood (8-5) shut down a potent Red Sox lineup as he gave up one unearned run and three hits before being pulled for a pinch hitter with a 4-1 lead in the seventh. The Rockies went on to score four times that inning to seal the win, with DJ LeMahieu and Michael Cuddyer delivering two-run singles. Cuddyer finished the night 2 for 4 with a double to raise his average to an NL-best .335. For the Rockies, this was a confidence-inducing victory. "For sure. Boston is a great team, going into the playoffs," Dickerson said. "You want to play well, show our resilience as a team and to play hard to the last game." With the AL East title wrapped up, the Red Sox are now focused on securing the best record in the league. They maintain a one-game lead over Oakland after the Athletics lost 3-0 to the Los Angeles Angels. Farrell is using these last few games as a way figure out his final post-season roster spots. Farrell said there are a couple still up for grabs. David Ortiz played first base instead of Mike Napoli without the use of a designated hitter. Ortiz showed off his glove, too, snaring a scorching liner from Dickerson to end the sixth. Chatwood pitched carefully to the dangerous Ortiz, even intentionally walking him in first with a runner on second. The ploy worked as Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded out. Later, Ortiz hit a fly to the deepest part of the park, but Blackmon tracked it down. The only mistake Chatwood made wasnt on the mound but covering first base in the seventh. With two outs and Will Middlebrooks on second, Todd Helton made a diving stop on Jackie Bradley Jr.s grounder and quickly flipped it to Chatwood, who dropped the ball before stepping on the base. Chatwood scooped it up and threw wide to home plate and into the Red Sox dugout, allowing Middlebrooks to score. Chatwood was charged with two errors on the play and Bradley advanced to third. But Chatwood escaped more damage when his wild pitch bounced off the wall behind home plate, allowing catcher Jordan Pacheco to quickly field the ball and flick it to Chatwood, who tagged out Bradley, keeping the score 4-1. "That lineup is really tough," Chatwood said. "Youve got to execute every pitch." Blackmon, the reigning NL player of the week, began the game with a homer to right on a fastball from Lackey. Cuddyer soon followed with a double and scored on Heltons single. Helton clapped his hands after his hit as the crowd roared. The first baseman will retire at the end of the season after 17 years with the Rockies. Before the game, Helton said he didnt "do nostalgia" and didnt want to reflect back on his career just yet. He holds virtually every hitting category in Rockies history and will play his final home game Wednesday night. Helton nearly was a member of the Red Sox had a rumoured trade before the 2007 season taken place. That was the season the Red Sox went on to sweep the Rockies to capture the World Series title. Asked how close he was to being in a Boston uniform, Helton said: "I have no idea. You have to talk to the people that were making the decisions." NOTES: Saltalamacchia hit a two-run homer in the ninth after Ortiz singled. ... Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury (right foot) may return to the lineup as soon as Wednesday. ... Rockies owner Dick Monfort is pleased with the performance of first-year manager Walt Weiss and hopes he returns. Monfort said the sides have yet to talk about a new deal. Shoes From China Online . The Asheville, N.C. native, who signed as a free agent with the CFL club last May, didnt see any action with Edmonton this season after opening the year on the injured list. Cheap Clearance Shoes . -- Arizona pitcher Bronson Arroyo is expected to miss a week to 10 days because of a back injury. http://www.cheapshoesclearance.com/ . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. The latest from Bob As tweeted by TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie on Monday, the Columbus Blue Jackets need to resolve their offseason plans with forward R.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays have used power, speed and pitching on a recent surge that has put them in first place in the American League East. Their 3-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday showed just how well that combination can work. Edwin Encarnacion provided the power with his 14th homer of the season, Jose Reyes provided the speed by equalling a career best for a game with three stolen bases and left-hander J.A. Happ provided the pitching with seven runless innings. Put it all together, and you get a team thats on a season-best six-game winning streak and has won 16 of its past 21 games. "I dont know if you ever see it coming," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "What it really comes down to is were just playing good baseball. The starting pitching has been really good, our offence has been alive, the bullpen has been solid." The Blue Jays (29-22) swept the three-game series with the Athletics (30-20) who lead the AL West despite losing their past four games. "Our three pitchers and their three pitchers were very good," Gibbons said. "And in those tight ball games, some clutch hitting and some great base running made the difference in most of those games. So ride it, ride it." It was Torontos second straight sweep after taking three games from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Happ (4-1) allowed four hits and three walks while striking out seven in his longest outing of the season. "Hes filling up the strike zone," Gibbons said. "Hes really doing a nice job of using his fastball on both sides of the plate. Hes locked in right now. (Catcher Erik) Kratz has done a great job with him." Dustin McGowan replaced Happ in the eighth and allowed Josh Donaldsons 11th homer of the season. Casey Janssen pitched the ninth inning to earn his seventh save in as many attempts this season. "Definitely wanted to pitch off the fastball today and Kratz did a great job behind the plate," Happ said. "We were on the same page and tried to use that. "First and foremost it was about me throwing the ball where Im supposed to throw it, and then pitching off the fastball and using everything. I thought today we did a good job establishing the fastball." As left-hander Drew Pomeranz (4-2) allowed five hits, four walks and two runs in four-plus innings. "I think I maybe tried to locate a little too much instead of going right at guys and ended up walking too many people and being in bad counts a lot," Pomeranz said. "I wasnt attacking guys like I should have." The Blue Jays did not have a hit until Encarnacion homered to left on a 2-2 fastball with one out in the fourth. It was the 14th of the year and the 12th of the month, tying him with Jose&nbbsp;Bautista for the team record for homers in May. Authentic Shoes Wholesale. The run also snapped a string of 18 consecutive runless innings for Pomeranz. Toronto went on to load the bases in the inning on singles by Brett Lawrie and Dioner Navarro and a walk by Steve Tolleson, but Kratz grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the fifth on a single to centre by Kevin Pillar, an infield hit by Reyes and a walk to Melky Cabrera. Bautista singled off right-hander Jim Johnson to score one run, but Reyes was thrown out at home by left-fielder Yoenis Cespedes. Encarnacions pop to centre field dropped in but Bautista was forced at second on centre-fielder Craig Gentrys throw to Johnson covering second base. Gibbons immediately challenged but the review upheld the call. Unconvinced, Gibbons argued and was ejected for the first time this season. "I was looking up at that (score) board and it looked pretty obvious to me," Gibbons said. "Their video probably isnt as big as that board maybe. I guess its a good system but its not a perfect system. That was big right there. We were sitting pretty good with a chance to blow the game open if hes safe. The out call changes the whole complexion a I thought they got it wrong out there." Bautistas sacrifice fly against right-hander Luke Gregerson in the seventh gave Toronto a 3-0 lead, scoring Reyes who opened the inning with a single and stole second and third. The three steals in a game equalled a career best for Reyes who has done it eight times. The previous time was Sept. 25, 2008, against the Chicago Cubs when he was with the New York Mets. "He can really generate his own runs when he gets in scoring position," Gibbons said. "Jose is feeling good right now. ... Hes exciting, thats one of the reasons they brought him over here." The Athletics completed a nine-game trip at 5-4 starting with five wins against the Cleveland Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays. "You go through these periods," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Youve just got to fight your way through it. "Youre not always going to score seven, eight runs a game and right now were going through a drought." NOTES: The last time the Blue Jays were alone in first place later than May 24 was July 6, 2000. aRight-hander R.A. Dickey lowered his earned-run average to 3.95 with his 8 1/3-inning outing in Saturdays win to drop his ERA below 4.00 for the first time in his Blue Jays career. a The Blue Jays open a three-game series at Rogers Centre against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday with right-hander Drew Hutchison (3-3, 3.45 ERA) facing Ottawa left-hander Erik Bedard (2-2. 2.63 ERA). aAttendance was 45,277, the fourth sellout of the season. ' ' '